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Initial Impressions

My first thought when I took the Starlight out of its green packaging and held the box-shaped vaporizer in my hand was “Whoa, this thing is a tank.” The Atman Starlight vaporizer for both dry herbs and wax by Atman Market is a very sturdy, solid, almost heavy-feeling piece of vaping equipment, and while I appreciated the durability of the Starlight’s metal body, there were some downsides to this design choice.

One of the unit’s major flaws is that its boxy and hard-cornered shape as well as the protruding plastic mouthpiece prevented me from carrying it around in my pocket, which is a big detractor for someone like myself who values portability. The vaporizer is still petite enough to be carried in a bigger purse or backpack, but anything smaller than a bag of some sort will result in a cramped fit.

I also wasn’t too fond of how cold and un-tactile the metal body of the vaporizer felt in my hand. When not in use (and even sometimes during use), the Starlight’s metal frame is very cold to the touch and gives off an almost scratchy feeling when handling. The Atman does, however, make strides aesthetically with its Matrix-like black and green color combination. Customers can also print custom designs on the vaporizer for an extra $5, which is a nice personalization option that helps make their vaporizers stand apart.

Loading and Operating the Atman Starlight

I really liked the simplicity of loading my herbs and wax into the Atman Starlight. The heating chamber is protected by a magnetic filter and mouthpiece that are both incredibly easy to remove. Even though the heating chamber is down in a little hole at the top of the vaporizer, it actually slides out effortlessly. The heating chamber can handle both concentrates and flower, but its chamber is sized slightly larger than a thimble so you can’t really pack too much flower into it.

Pressing the Starlight’s single button five times turns on the vaporizer, after which you can press the button three more times to cycle through the unit’s four heat settings (320F and 380F for flower and 410F and 500F for concentrates). The temperature settings seemed to be on the low end and unrelated to the different cannabinoids you can unlock at certain temperatures.

After choosing your desired temperature setting, you then hold the power button for a few seconds to initiate heating. The light will then turn green to indicate that you’re free to vape. It’s a bit of a clunky process constantly clicking the button a different number of times to switch temperatures and restart heating mid-session, but eventually you get the hang of it.

Vaping with the Atman Starlight

A huge benefit of the Starlight is its very quick heat-up time. I was caught off-guard by getting the green light after only maybe 7-10 seconds of heating, and it’s neat that the Starlight gives you a five-minute window to inhale freely from the mouthpiece before going into a protective shutdown (although it’s important to note that this doesn’t fully turn the Starlight off).

My vaping experience went downhill from there, however, as I was never able to get a good hit during any of my sessions with the Starlight. This isn’t to say the vaporizer doesn’t work at all, as I could notice that I was getting a little high and could taste the vaped bud in my mouth at each setting, but I just couldn’t really produce much vapor throughout the course of my session.

I suspect the reason for this disappointing vape experience is that the temperature settings for flower on the Starlight are just off. Having only two options at a very low end 320F and a higher end 380F means that there’s a whole wide range of optimal temperatures in between that you won’t be able to reach. While you won’t really be able to fully maximize the benefits of your flower with the Starlight, you will still be able to get a light buzz going. At 320F, you are just starting to access the THC and a few other cannabinoids, and at 380F you’ve already passed the burn temp for so many other cannabinoids (like CBD, CBN, etc.).

Vaping concentrates was a little disappointing as well. While I was more successful producing actual vapor with wax vs. flower, I still had to use a lot of wax to fill the chamber and get the vapor.

Thankfully, cleaning the Starlight in between sessions was really easy since the mouthpiece and filter pop off easily, and the brush that’s included does a great job of scooping vaped nug out of the chamber. I also want to note that while it does take a few minutes, the Starlight will get pretty toasty in your hand with longer sessions, making the five-minute auto shutdown feature a pretty necessary one.

Our Verdict

Ultimately, I was disappointed with the Atman Starlight vaporizer. Its simple functions and maintenance are nice but the sharp corners, cold feel, and bulging box shape minimize those positives, and it offers a disappointing vape performance. I was frustrated and felt limited by the only two temperature options for my flower, and those two options are either too low or just a bit high to really get the most out of my buds. These limitations combined with not being able to produce much vapor with the Starlight left me feeling like I was wasting my bud, which is the exact opposite feeling you want out of a vaporizer.

I have to say that I wouldn’t recommend the Atman Starlight, at least not for the $99.95 they’re charging for it. Even though the Starlight works and will get you lightly stoned, I just don’t feel that the underwhelming vaping performance, limited temperature options, and somewhat bulky design justify the price. In my opinion, there are other vaporizer options available that will do a better job of getting the most out of your flower and concentrates.

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